Session Summary:
- Esme picked up Daniela in front of the warehouse just before the police arrived.
- The three women decided to it would be safest to spend the night in a friend of Esme’s place.
- Daniela placed a call into the PUG to force the Diocese to cooperate with her investigation. The PUG said they would leave a message with the Diocese.
- In the morning the women made a quick stop by Lucy’s place before anybody from Familia or Legion could toss her place.
- Violet was able unlock Lucy’s laptop and pick up her belongings. Daniela found a pile of dust in Lucy’s living room and took a small sample of the dust.
- Esme drove to Daniela’s place to quickly let her grab a change of clothes from her place and pick up a newspaper from Beth.
- The three women went to a diner to grab some breakfast, discuss their situation, and make some phone calls. Daniela learned from Phil that a pile of dust was found near the sliding glass doors leading to Adriana Salazar’s balcony. She set meeting with Phil for 1:30 that afternoon to meet and talk about the murders and the warehouse.
- Phil mentioned that 3 men were reported shot last night at the warehouse. Daniela saw two of these men when she explored the warehouse.
- Daniela contacted Dr. Mason and was invited to come by his office to drop off their dust sample for testing at the university. When the three women arrived at the office they learned that the Diocese had made arrangements to meet with Daniela and Father Soto at 2:00 per the PUG’s request.
- The meeting with Phil will have to wait, the next session begins at Dr. Mason’s office with an hour before the meeting with the Diocese and Father Soto in the Loop.
We have 4 session left to play.
ReplyDeleteWith that in mind I will be making plans to end the game. You will need to be thinking along those same lines. You both are about to meet with Father Soto and the Diocese. This may be the last time you meet with these people. In fact every situation from here forward may be the last time you have a chance to see each character. There should be a sense of urgency and a sense of finality to all of your actions.
Remember your character goals. You will want to be thinking about achieving them soon. We discussed how Esme has been very dynamic this game (she began hating Rudy, and now she is concerned for his safety). I have been working to bury Violet in guilt, I will keep playing off her guilt, but it will be up to Shevon to determine how Violet’s character resolves herself. Also, it has been established that Daniela is not afraid of the supernatural things that are happening around her. My role as the GM is to frighten her and put her on her guard.
As we approach the end of the game and you begin to learn about truth behind the events that you have witnessed be sure to keep in mind how you want your character to resolve at the end of this story line. I won’t be hiding much from you moving forward. Things are going to come out very quickly in the coming sessions. Your characters are going to be going through an emotional and physical roller-coaster as we race towards a thrilling end. Now is not the time to hold back, if there is something you wanted to happen it is going to have to happen soon or it will never happen in this game.
The first thing you must focus on is the meeting with Soto and the Diocese. I want this scene to explode in everyone’s faces. Let’s burn our bridges and loose our cool. The local church must cooperate with you now but they aren’t going to be happy about it. You will get the truth from these men, but you are going to have to bring the tension to a boil before you get it out of them. The scene from the end of “A Few Good Men” comes to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo. Think about the coming scene in relation this film. Force the truth from these men, if done right we should get a very powerful reveal when they finally explain to your characters what they know!
Try to post your plans or questions to the blog. I want to focus on the drama and the details in the next session, it could be our last chance since the rest of the game is going to get heavy.
I am having a blast planning out the last sessions of this game. I love conflict resolution and tying up loose ends. These next sessions are going to be intense. I will need you guys to be thinking and playing like this is the finale from here on out. Don't get overly wild or reckless, stay true to the character. Things are going to get very dangerous, I will punish your characters if they take big risks and fail, since the end is drawing near. Play your characters with purpose and an eagerness to seize their goals and we will have a some incredible sessions.
ReplyDeleteAre you guys thinking about the session but not posting, or not thinking and not posting! Seriously though, make sure you do some prep for this coming meeting with the Diocese and Father Soto. If you don't have a strategy or goal beyond: "find the truth" this scene is going to turn out just like the scene at Mrs. Fieldstone's house.
ReplyDeleteDialogue can be just as exciting as combat when treated similarly. Think about the coming meeting in fighting terms. There are going to be feints and dodges, pushes and punches... If the Diocese refuses to cooperate how will you force them to cooperate? If they warn you against prying into these matters, how will you justify yourself? Can you think of any bargaining chips you could trade for their cooperation? If find that they are lying to you, how will you call their bluff? Do you want to play good-cop/ bad-cop with them? Does one of you fly off the handle yelling and screaming or do you break down crying and appeal to their compassionate side? Can you string them along with a crafty line of questioning that leaves them no way to escape telling you the truth?
Consider your options and pick an angle. Write down a snappy line you hope to be able to deliver in the heat of the argument. Try to find a way to steer the conversation towards the scenario where your character delivers that snappy line, and know what skill you want to use to boost the statement you are making - roll the dice and be the heroic protagonist that your characters need to be. If you come into the session visualizing the outcome you are trying to get you will feel more in control, your actions will be more directed, and you will take ownership of the scene in-and-out of character.
Trust me. This is the stuff that makes Role-playing games great.
Thinking about it when I can, and not posting. :\ My finals are next week, just had a rough week with a big project/ presentation for one class. I'm thinking about strategy but haven't come up with anything outstanding yet.
ReplyDeleteWe will have to use Phil as a threat - not right away, but as things get more difficult. I feel like we have some pretty heavy artillery - Daniela is from the Vatican, after all, and we have the press in our corner. I believe the Diocese knows something about the Bible quote, so I'd like to bring Lucy's Bible (and rosary) to the table.
I have the feeling Daniela is going to be the true heavy hitter here. My character will probably be seen unfavorably, so I plan on being the rude guest if I need to. Bozena, you and I could possibly work together where I'm sort of a restless instigator, and you're the calm authority figure from the Vatican who may be the Church's only hope of preventing a massive press catastrophe? What do you think?
Hi guys! It is me, "the Slacker "! ;)
DeleteI like our 2 weeks breaks but time is moving so fast that we might as well have two months in between our sessions and I still wouldn't be able to be as prepared as I would like to. So thank you, Adam for keeping the discipline among us. Seriously though, I have the second busiest time a year at work (Annual Elections), and a friend from Arizona visiting for the past weekend. I get up at 6am every day and come home around the bed time. This is my explanation so you guys know I am not ignoring our game. I don't want to feel bad about it, I want to enjoy what we do, but I do understand that in order to really have fun, a little time and energy should be put into the game in between the sessions. Enough explaining and up to the point:
I kind of thought about "THREE STEPS STRATEGY" combined with a "BAD COP - GOOD COP". The goal is to get the information that would lead us to Lucy.
1. REASON AND JOIN FORCES - I would like to begin kindly by asking them to cooperate and pointing to their spiritual and moral obligation to those in need. We need to find Lucy. She is either in danger, or dangerous to others and herself. She may me possessed by an evil spirit, she may have stigmata and suffer from pain and visions she does not understand, she may also be suffering from psychological condition and need medical attention and psychiatric evaluation.
2. DROP A BOMB AND NEGOTIATE - since I don't expect to achieve much from this introductory "small talk", we could use the Bible passage as a surprise, explain that this is what we found at Lucy's apartment, read it out loud and examine their reactions. (Violet could read it so Daniela would have an opportunity to observe and use her psychology skill. What do you think Shevon?)We could also add dust sample to the mix. I was wondering if I could use dr. Mason to give me a call as soon as he gets the test results. This would make the oponent believe that we are in possession of important information that could be exchanged.
3. BLACKMAIL (YEAH!!) - If all the above doesn't force them to cooperate, I make a motion to pull out our heavy artillery and blackmail the sh.t out of them. (After all, it is supposed to be the battle.) We have three hard core weapons here: public opinion (Phil), catholic law (Vatican), criminal justice system (Connerty). And God on our side.
I agree with you, Shevon about using Phil as a threat. I was also thinking about possibly threatening father Soto and Diocese to file a report directly to the ecclesiastic court in Vatican. If we really want to be in offense, which would be the police. After all Lucy has been reported missing and she has been linked somehow to all the deaths within Familia. If we told the cops that father Soto was the last one to see Lucy and he is withholding some information about her, it would made him a suspect in this case.
If I am actually able to ask questions, I would like to use my detecting lies skill. I am still working on my question set for the scene.
About our team work with Violet, I like the idea of her being the annoying, unpredictable, emotional and aggressive one. She could initiate the media and the police threats, while Daniela would either remain silent or try to calm her down and "translate" her words into the "proper church language". Daniela would have the Vatican card to play with.
I hope this make some sense to you guys. Sorry if some of doesn't but I am trying to do this at work and it is not a good place for me to do it. This is all I got for now but I'll be back Friday evening.
I didn't realize you could 'reply' to comments individually! Good call.
DeleteThis looks like a battle plan. Let's see if Shevon agrees or can add something to this. I'm really excited to see Daniela use her Psychology skill. I've been working on ways to bring that to the surface myself as we approach the end. Before this game is over I know you will make good use of your Psychology skill.
Good start, keep thinking. Write your ideas in a small notebook or post-it notes and just keep coming up with ideas (That's how I do it). You and Bozena should exchange ideas on the blog before the session.
ReplyDeleteUnrelated to your post but perhaps very helpful for thinking of ideas for this next session, and certainly for the wrap up of the game, I am going to give you an example from a game I played in once:
I was playing a U.S. Marine in a Mayan 2012 post-apocalyptic game a friend of mine was hosting. My character was completely honor bound to serve his country and therefore volunteered for a top secret mission that the government was arranging. My character was fitted with a couple civilians (other players in the game) and an expedition leader from the Army (controlled by the GM).
We were to board a small navy vessel and cruise out into the ocean off the coast of Brazil into a big-ass vortex that had opened up to explore and then report back. When we got to the vortex our expedition leader seemingly lost his mind and drove us straight into the thing (we all tried to stop him, but failed to do so). Just as we went over the edge of this vortex sinkhole in the middle of the ocean the expedition leader stood up on the bow of the ship and screamed at the top of his lungs with arms outstretched, “For the United States of America!”
We later learned that guy was part of some government plot (conspiracy type shit) to visit this vortex which they had learned would take us to some alternate parallel version of earth where everything was crazy and weird magical shit was totally normal. Needless to say my character, a marine, was not thrilled about this. Our expedition leader became one of the bad guys in our characters minds (since he lied to us about the nature of our expedition and was in cahoots with a government splinter cell that was “saving the planet” by risking our lives in a goofed up parallel universe). He disappeared into the jungle after we all washed up on the shore in the paralled universe and was not seen again for 5-6 sessions of gameplay.
You are probably wondering why I typed all this on the blog, I probably gave too much background I admit, but here comes the part that is important.
My character hated the expedition leader. The guy lied to us, ditched us, and totally knew where we were headed and never gave us any help. I as a player made it my characters goal to find the expedition leader and punish him for what he did to us. We were trapped in the parallel world disconnected from our country and now were serving some plot by a governmental group who I didn’t think had the best interests of the American people in mind. So I convinced our party to hunt that son of a bitch down. We did eventually, and as we played those 5-6 sessions that lead up to the moment I would confront our expedition leader I planned out what I would do to him when I found him. In the end I cataloged all of the mishaps that befell us on our ill-fated journey and used them to vent my anger with the expedition leader.
ReplyDeleteWhen we confronted him he tried to explain things to us and make us see that he was “one of the good guys,” my character wasn’t buying it, I jumped on top of the guy and beat his face in. With each blow I named off something that prick was responsible for: “This is for lying to us – This is for leaving us to die – this is Jonathan (a character who was killed during our adventure)…” I beat him nearly unconscious and then stood over him. I waited for him to recover his senses so that he could hear me and understand what I was doing to him. I pulled my sword (one of those rapiers that Marines wear on their hip when they are in their formal suits) and drove the blade into his chest as I said: “And this, this is for the United States of America.”
I chose to kill him and resolved myself to save my country on my own terms rather acting as part of his conspiratorial group.
Point is, I planned and waited for that scene for 5-6 sessions. I built it up in my mind and worked towards that eventual outcome until I arrived at it. It didn’t start fully realized. In the beginning all I knew was I wanted to escape the trap we were in and I wanted to hurt him for having put us in that situation. I worked up the scene over a long period and with each session I wanted that scene to happen even more. It became the central goal of my character. They game was about that turning point for my character, not so much how I was going to externally save the U.S.A. from the apocalypse, it was an internal goal to get revenge.
That said, I am hoping that you have been having a similar experience with our game. There must be something you want more than anything else. You must be able to visualize the end for your character. When you think of the villains in our game how do you see your character triumphing over them. Have you played out a scenario in your mind of how it all goes down, and how your character walks away victorious?
Your characters are scared and angry at this point. There must be something they have to say to the Church or to Josué or Legion. Your characters came to Logan Square for a reason and things have not gone their way, they still don’t know what’s happening and it seems like some people do. Get pissed off and express your frustration with these people. That’s what I was talking about above when I referred to my interest in the drama of the game in the coming sessions. When your character gets mad they will take action. They will become protagonists, and they will become awesome. Don’t just think about it, try it. Visualize your confrontation, then seek it out, and experience the satisfaction of meeting your goal for your character.
I promise not to post any more food for thought. The blog is all yours, keep the conversation going.